Category Archives: Events

Open Data Hackathon

Whether you’re all about developing applications, creating impressive information visualisations, manipulating statistics, or telling the stories behind the numbers, there’s a place for you at the Open Data Hackathon in Bolzano from 25th to 27th September.

Entrants will have 24 hours to work on creative applications for publicly available data in an effort to impress the jury, who will award prizes on the basis of creativity, innovation, usability and of course, use of open data. Entry is free of charge, the prizes great and Bolzano a beautiful place to spend the weekend, so you may well be tempted to hang around for a few days to recover once the hacking is done.

Registration is open right up to the event, but tickets are limited, so sign up now and we’ll see you there.

OSCON 2013 Coming Up Fast!

OSCON 2013 is coming up fast! Running from July 22nd to 26th in Portland Oregon it’s the “epicentre of all things open source”. With over 300 speakers and 18 different tracks there’s something for absolutely everyone with an interest in open source.

On the Tuesday morning Simon will be chairing the Community Foundations 101 tutorial which is now filling up. The tutorial will be presented by a selection of non-profit foundation leaders and cover a wide range of issues faced by those considering starting a non-profit organisation for their own community. Registering now using the discount code “OSI” will not only get you a 20% discount but also get a free credit for a local attendee.

Open Source Track at TDC 2013: São Paulo

“The Developer’s Conference” is a 5 day event for all things software development, which opens its doors in São Paulo this week on Wednesday 10th. Simon will be there running an Open Source Track along with fellow OSI director Bruno Souza. The track runs on the Wednesday, with presentations and seminars from a range of speakers, covering topics from “decentralising the web” to “contributing to open source projects” and “A developer response to software patents”. If you’re attending TDC or are in São Paulo for any other reason, get along to the open source track!

Open World Forum Extend Call for Papers

Open World Forum has been bringing together European decision makers to explore the impact and potential future impact of free and open source software since 2008. This year it’s grown again, is moving to a larger venue and will be taking place on October the 3rd, 4th and 5th in Paris, France.

Describing the overarching theme of the event as “demystifying practical innovation”, organisers are extending their call for participation. There’s a wide scope within that general theme for discussion on everything from massive open online courses to whether use of cloud technologies should be seen as a lock in or an opportunity. In the CODE section of the event topics range from big data to web accessibility to mobile technologies.

There are plenty more topics on their list, so take a look for yourself and if something catches your eye, run with it and get a proposal in now! We hope to run a track there on the subject of “Freedom To Innovate” and we’ll watch for submissions on this theme. Not only is it a great event, it’s also an opportunity for members of the open source community to get their voice heard by a large number of European decision makers.

Brazil Engagements

During the first couple of weeks of July Simon will be in Brazil for a number of events.

If you’re in Porto Alegre you could hear him talk at FISL, where he’ll talk on Wednesday July 3rd on the topic of how open source turned businesses and governments around the world into users and promoters of free software. He’s also speaking on the Friday July 5th about the threat of software patents, (even to those in a country which doesn’t seem to allow them) and what steps can be taken to counter that threat.

If you’re in São Paulo, he’s also talking at TDC on Wednesday July 10th, where he’ll be talking about OSI, the MariaDB Foundation and again about software patents and what you can do about them.

If you’d like to meet with Simon while he’s in Brazil – for example to discuss joining OSI or the MariaDB Foundation or to become an OIN licensee – please use the contact form.

Practical Step to Protect Your Digital Rights

Open Rights GroupPerhaps you find yourself concerned by the ongoing resurgence of the Snooper’s Charter (CDB) in the media and want to know about practical steps you can make towards keeping it at bay. Open Rights Group champion that cause and you can both support their work and find out more information by attending one of their local meetings.

Wherever you are there are active ways to get involved. Simon will be speaking at the local ORG gatherings in Sheffield and Manchester on the 11th and 12th of June respectively. There’s another event in Edinburgh on the 13th when there’ll be a panel discussion with Ian Murray MP, Marco Biagi MSP, and ORG’s own Jim Killock.

Alternatively ORGCon is coming up fast. The UK’s biggest digital rights conference is taking place in London on the 8th of June. There’s a packed and varied programme covering all manner of digital rights issues. So whatever it is that gets you fired up, from the Snooper’s Charter to censorship to the digital arms trade, ORGCon2013 is well worth attending.

On Tour

Simon is heading to the USA soon, and will be at the following venues:

If you would like to meet him or even book him for your own event, please let us know and we’ll see what we can do.

ORGCon2013

Open Rights GroupORGCon is the UK’s largest digital freedoms conference. This year’s edition will include sessions and workshops on net filtering, open data, the Communications Data Bill and copyright, to name a few. The event takes place in London on the 8th of June but tickets are already available and going fast (last year’s event sold out)!
 
If you’re new to the Open Rights Group and their work campaigning to preserve digital freedoms, you can even get a free conference ticket if you take this opportunity to start supporting their work. It’s a good time to join as they’re throwing in a free copy of headline speaker Tim Wu’s book “The Master Switch” too.

OSI Open Source Community Summit

OSI-RThe License Clinic for US Federal Agencies is not the only new departure for the Open Source Initiative this May. OSI is also reaching out to a wide spectrum of open source communities with its Open Source Community Summit in Washington DC on May 10 2013, where we’ll be able to gain a much fuller idea of the needs of those communities. Sponsored by Google, Red Hat and Eclipse, and chaired by OSI President Simon Phipps, this is OSI’s first Community Summit.

Attendees will explore answers to big questions faced by open source projects, both via keynotes from notable speakers and in unconference sessions. It will also be a chance to define in more depth the specific goals associated with OSI’s mission to defend, protect, educate about and promote open source. The “unconference sessions” format will create plenty of room for dialogue, so you’ll be able to bring your big ideas, interesting problems and wanted projects to the table.

Register now to be sure of a place at the first OSI Open Source Community Summit.